Beef Stew

Perfect for a rainy day! This also freezes well if you have too many left overs.

Ingredients:

2 ½ lbs	Chuck roast, trimmed of excess fat and diced into 1 inch cubes
2 ½ Tbsp	Olive oil
	Salt & Pepper to taste
1 Large	Yellow onion, chopped (about 1 ½ cups)
3	Medium celery stalks,  chopped (about 1 ¼ cups)
4	Cloves of garlic, minced (1 ½ Tbsp)
¼ Cup	Tomato paste
3 Cups	Beef broth
2 Tbsp	Red wine vinegar
1 Cup	Red wine
2	Bay leaves
1 ½ lbs	Yellow potatoes, diced into 1 inch chunks
1lb	Carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
1 ½ Tbsp	Cornstarch (depending on how thick you like it)
¼ Cup	Fresh minced parsley
1Tbsp	Minced fresh thyme (or 1 tsp dried)
1	Single spring of rosemary (or ¾ tsp dried)

Directions:

1. Brown the meat in a sauce pan or skillet before putting it in a slow cooker.
2. Once meat is removed from pan, sauté the onion, celery, garlic in the olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. Add the tomato paste, beef broth, vinegar & red wine. Mix everything together on low heat, and transfer this to the slow cooker.
4. Add bay leaves, potatoes, carrots and herbs to slow cooker.
5. Cook on slow for 8 hours. Either before or during the cook time, add in the corn starch with a slurry of water. I also like to strain the corn starch mixture of any clumps. This will help thicken the soup mixture.

*Side Note – The steps above will maximize the flavors, but if you don’t have time to do all these steps, you can throw everything together in a slow cooker, mix it up and set it for 8 hours.